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Part 12: Burn Unit

Took care of some random stuff while my squadmates talk shit. And we finally go meet with the mages in Redcliffe! Things are very very fucked up. Fiona more or less went and made a deal with the devil, which shockingly goes badly for her group.

If you've never played a DA game you might wonder what's so bad about Tevinter. Well, once upon a time Tevinter ruled pretty much the entire continent. They're governed by mages which in and of itself wouldn't necessarily be bad, but they also practice blood magic like it was going out of style while publicly decrying it to stop another Exalted March on their asses. If you couldn't tell, blood magic is pretty much the equivalent of eating babies in Thedas. Again, not bad in and of itself, but it's generally used for nasty things and sometimes the people whose blood gets used aren't exactly consenting. Also they keep slaves. Elves are well and truly fucked in Tevinter, unless they're lucky enough to be mages since magic is what rules. Even then a mage elf still faces a lot of racism. The other elves are less than shit. People can voluntarily sell themselves into slavery, but the slave trade is a very big deal and lots of groups range south to kidnap hapless peasants, elves and refugees to sell. Human trafficking shit on a very high level. The whole deal with Andraste is because she was a Tevinter slave and pulled a Moses to get her people out of there. And goddamn dumb Fiona signs the whole crew up.

I think what bugs me the most about this plotline is that while Fiona may have agreed to indenture the whole group Tevinter contracts ain't worth shit down here. The second he went back on his promise she should have told him to get fucked since we showed up to offer an alternative and we have our own army. The Imperium isn't going to risk another EM against them for what amounts to a group of outcast fuckups. Plus how he got the Arl to just up and leave is another big mystery. The codex says the Arl goes to Denerim to ask for help from the Queen (or King, or both depending on your world state) but leaving your nigh-unassailable fortress in the hands of a foreign asshole just seems like bad strategy.

The Tranquil fellow talks about what happened in Redcliffe in the first game. The Arl's son, Connor, started to show magic ability but instead of sending him off to a Circle like you're supposed to, his mother decided to hide it and imported a shady fellow to teach Connor magic. The guy was actually sent to assassinate the Arl and poisons him, and poor dumb child Connor summons a desire demon to save his father. Being a demon, she keeps the Arl alive but he doesn't get better and she starts sending undead to fuck up the town. You can choose to kill the kid, kill his mother to banish the demon (more bad blood magic) or get the Ferelden Circle to make the demon go away. In our worldstate we chose the last option, so everyone is still alive. We'll talk to Connor in an upcoming video and make fun of his life choices.

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